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Man United send Ferguson off a winner

Steve Douglas

Alex Ferguson was given a fitting send-off in his final home game in charge of Manchester United as his club of nearly 27 years scored a trademark late winner against Swansea on Sunday, capping an emotional day of celebrations at Old Trafford.

Rio Ferdinand slammed in an 87th-minute volley to seal United's 2-1 victory, before Ferguson joined his players in lifting the English Premier League trophy for a 13th and final time.

"It's fantastic," said Ferguson, whose haul of 38 trophies at United makes him Britain's most successful manager.

"What a send-off. I was bubbling there for a bit. The atmosphere was unbelievable."

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Ferguson's replacement, David Moyes, was also feted by fans in his last home match as manager of Everton, with his side beating West Ham 2-0 with a double from Kevin Mirallas to guarantee a sixth-placed finish.

Tottenham climbed provisionally to fourth - two points above Arsenal - via Emmanuel Adebayor's late winner in a 2-1 victory at Stoke, while Newcastle and Norwich secured their Premier League survival with victories over Queens Park Rangers and West Bromwich Albion respectively.

Sunderland could still go down after conceding an equaliser to draw 1-1 at home to Southampton, leaving Paolo Di Canio's team four points in front of third-from-bottom Wigan ahead of the newly crowned FA Cup winners' match with Arsenal on Tuesday.

Realistically, the three teams still battling against the drop are Sunderland, Aston Villa and Wigan.

Daniel Sturridge scored a hat-trick as Liverpool came from behind to defeat Fulham 3-1 in the day's other match.

Ferguson's last home match as United manager was always going to steal the script, however, and the game was given even more prestige as it was the final appearance by Paul Scholes at Old Trafford before the midfielder headed back into retirement.

Ferguson, who dropped Wayne Rooney from the starting line-up and confirmed the striker's transfer request had been rejected, started Scholes and brought him off after 66 minutes to a standing ovation.

"He is unbelievable, one of the greatest players this club has had or ever will have," Ferguson said of Scholes, who signed professional terms with United in 1993.

With the game approaching what is widely known in British football as "Fergie Time" - coined due to the amount of injury-time goals scored by United in Ferguson's tenure - a corner from Robin van Persie crept through to Ferdinand, who volleyed home high into the net.

Ferguson jumped out of his seat and punched the air in delight, before going to the centre circle after fulltime to deliver an emotional, five-minute speech in the rain.

The race for two Champions League qualification berths behind City and United is still on, though, with Spurs piling the pressure on Arsenal thanks to a come-from-behind victory over a Stoke side that played most of the second half with 10 men after Charlie Adam's send-off.

Steven Nzonzi gave Stoke the lead before Clint Dempsey equalised in the 20th and then set up Adebayor for the winner in the 82nd.

Hatem Ben Arfa and Yoan Gouffran scored for Newcastle as they came from behind to beat QPR 2-1, while Robert Snodgrass, Grant Holt and Jonny Howson - along with an own goal by Gareth McAuley - helped Norwich to a 4-0 win over West Brom.